The Portuguese Carnation Revolution shook Switzerland

Vintage

In April 1974, one of Europe’s oldest dictatorships collapsed in Portugal. In Switzerland, people were worried about the future of the country. Particularly because of the fragility of the political balance in southern Europe.

Mattia Mahon / Swiss National museum

Far from the great power that it was in the 19th^e century, when it extended over five continents, the Portuguese Empire of 1974 was destabilized by long and costly colonial wars in Africa. L’Estado Novo is at war on three fronts in its African colonies: in Angola, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. These colonial wars have lasted for around ten years with no end in sight.

Tired of the dictatorship’s stubbornness in maintaining an Empire in Africa, a fraction of officers grouped under the name of Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA) initially aspired to abandon colonial wars, but quickly politicized against the Salazar dictatorship. They demand an end to colonization, the democratization of the regime and economic measures in favor of the metropolitan population. Taking advantage of this emerging movement, General Spínola took the lead with the aim of forcing the government to stop the African wars.

On April 25, the MFA took to the streets in Lisbon to take control of the city. He was quickly followed by civilians demonstrating peacefully. The Estado Novo collapsed within hours. The Swiss ambassador in Lisbon, Jean-Louis Pahud reported:

In the crowd, the waitress of a restaurant decides to adorn the soldiers’ rifles with red carnations, thus unknowingly naming the revolution. Briefly becoming president, Spínola freed political prisoners. These are mainly left-wing activists imprisoned by António de Oliveira Salazar. These move the MFA from protesting the war towards a real social revolution.

The powder magazine from Southern Europe

From the Swiss point of view, the Portuguese revolution mainly presents two aspects. The first relates to the geopolitical balance of Southern Europe. Indeed, if Portugal itself is not a leading partner of Switzerland, there is a “risk of contagion” from the Carnation Revolution which could destabilize the neighboring Franco regime and, further, perhaps being Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia.

It should be remembered that in 1974, Italy was the only one of these countries not to be led by an authoritarian government, although it was marked by the serious tensions of the “years of lead”. In Spain, the Franco regime is still in place despite Franco’s worrying state of health and the questions this generates about the continuation of the regime.

In Greece, for a few more months, the Dictatorship of the Colonels holds power. In the summer of 1974, the Cypriot crisis, Turkey’s invasion of the north of the island and the Greek regime’s barbaric repression of pacifist demonstrators finally put an end to the junta. Overall, the threat of the entire South of Europe falling into civil wars is therefore real.

The second aspect is that of European colonization. Portugal was one of the first promoters from the 15th century^e century and also one of the last European countries to maintain a real colonial empire in Africa at the cost of bloody wars. Switzerland had in the past been able to use its good relations with Portugal to maintain economic links with the colonized territories in Africa.

The Carnation Revolution therefore marks an important step in the decolonization of Africa in general, but also in the relations of Swiss companies with southern Africa in particular. Switzerland respects Portuguese requests for recognition of its former colonies, which achieved negotiated independence within 16 months.

The fear of a left-wing regime

However, for Bern, the most worrying question following the putsch is whether it is a reorganization at the head of state between rival factions, or whether the revolution could give rise to a left-wing regime, in a still very marked Cold War context. The fear of the seizure of power by Marxist organizations was very strong throughout the constitutional process, although the Communist Party participated in the legalist project together with the other components of the movement.

The Swiss Ambassador in Lisbon, in a style that often seems surreal today, does not hold back from reporting all the misdeeds and machinations – real or presumed – of left-wing organizations, always depicting them armed with the worst intentions. Thus, when General Spínola was ousted from power and found refuge in Switzerland, he was accused of trying to buy weapons there.

The Swiss Ambassador initially announced from Lisbon that it was probably a stunt by the communist press aimed at discrediting the army. But a few days later, the German daily Stern reveals the affair: the general did make contact with what he thought was a far-right armed group to buy weapons and ammunition.

Under pressure from Jean Ziegler in particular, who asked if the authorities thought he was a “simple tourist”, the Federal Council decided to expel the former general from the territory. The reasons given are his political actions, which go against what his visa prescribed. With this affair one of the last twists and turns of the revolution ends and bilateral relations will subsequently normalize.

This text is the result of collaboration between the Swiss National Museum (MNS) and the Center for Research on Swiss Diplomatic Documents (Dodis). The 50^e anniversary of the Carnation Revolution gave rise to several publications and historical events that inspired this text. The documents accessible on Dodis are available online.